Infusor



Patented `Mar- 16, 119,26.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

INFUBOR.

Eppncatan'med october s, 1921. serial No. 506,389.

To all whom t may concern:

' Be it known that I, REGINALD A. FEssEN- DEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chestnut Hill, in the county of Mid- 5 dlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Infusors, of which 'the following is the specification.

My invention relates to the 'making of l infusions, vsuch'as tea,.a'nd has for its' objects greater eiiiciency, convenience, reliability, uniforniity, purity, economy, cleanliness and avoidance -of deterioration of the yinfusive material and' prevention of fraud. Figures 1 and 3 show plan views and Figures 2 and 4 sectional views of containers for infusive materials, of the type described and claimed. Fig. 5 shows'a multiple container in section.

Heretofore in the practice o f the art it has been `customary to-make tea and similar infusions by placingl the tea 'in a pot and pouring hot water over it, letting it'steep and then servin it. This gave tea ofvarious degrees o strength, containing' more theine in the rst'portions and more tannin in the latter; and too hot at first and too cold at the last. Also it necessitated washing of the tea pot and cups tojremove grounds. Also each one served- 4received an. infusion determined not by his wishes as to strength, but by the order in which he'was served. K E

,An alternative method was to place the '35 tea in a bag, andsuspend same in the tea pot. This had all the di'sadvanta es of the first method, except the removal o grounds; and also was more Aor less unsanitary, as. cloth collects dirt; and ledlto fraud, as ap- 40 plicant found 'on lseveral occasions that some restaurants served the same bag to more than one'guest.. I

A third method was the use of the individual tea "ball, an approximately sphericalmetallic container which could be suspended in the cup. This was troublesome. to use, as it had to be filled each time, rand afterwards the tea -gr'oundsfhad to vbe removedv andthe tea ball well washed. Also 'thellf ing had to be done justbefore using, or. the tea would deteriorate from exposure to the air. Also it was uneconomical, as so far Ias 'applicant knows, italways contained more tea v.than or one Cup, being intended to be' theball. Also it provided no means, other than wasteful, of providing eachl individual with tea ofthe strength desired. Also, since the tea ball "could be'opened and filled by any one there was no guarantee, if served ata restaurant, that the tea wouldbe ofthe grade specified.

Applicantovercomes the above diiculties 'and obtains other advantages by his invention of the type of container shown in the figures. These containers are preferabl made of thin aluminum foil, perforate 'though other vmaterialsmay be used, e. gi'

thin veneers .of orange wood. They are all characterized by' the fact that their thickness is small compared to one of their other dimensions and by the fact that they are sealed; differing in these lrespects from all p re vious containers for infusionable materia s.

' The type shown in lan in Fig. l and in section 1n Fig. 2\is sliaped like a piece of silver money, from which shape and their appearance they are termed tea money, T ey are of different sizes, some being as large as a dollar, othersthe size of ay fifty cent piece. Here in Figures land 3, 11 is the container, perforated' with lnumerous small holes, shown at 12; 17 is a'corrugation in the flat.side;` and 15 is the filling of the infusionable material, e. g. tea. Fig. 3 shows an oblong type 13,

like a domino, butthinner; andFig. 4 shows, onA a larger scale, for the sake of clearnes's, a cylin rical type 14,'1ike a cigarette. The sections ofboth these typesv are shown in Fig.

2, the sections in the planes containing the l longest and shortest dimensions of the three slmilar.

types shown inv Figs. 1,' and 4 being'all all ave one ydimension ofa different and smaller order of magnitude than one of the other dimensions, and are'p'erforated in a surface perpendicular to that dimension, the

B reason of the .fact that these containers distancethe infusing liquid vhas to travel in infusive material is evenly and completely dissolved. Also, by reason of their belng sealed, they can not be refilled with a cheaper 4`grade of tea, without the ilse of expensive machinery` and hence are especially adapted for firms sellingr high grade teas wholesale. Also. for the reason that they are sealed, the grounds do not escape, and the tea pot and cups do not need to have the groundsl removed.

Also. the corrugatlon prevents the serving ot used tea, for on being used the first time the tea expands and the corrugation opens up, so that the container' indicates by vits appearance if it has been used and dried out- The perforations may be sealed by dippingthe containers in melted sugar, or gelatine, or chocolate, or condensed milk, (and later drying), or other suitable material. Since the containers have no projecting wires or hooks, and have two opposite substantially tlat surfaces, they may be built up into a column` like a rouleau of money, and wrapped with ahuninium or lead foil, as shown in Fig. 5. ln this way the tea is permanently preserved trom the air, and is formed into convenient packages for selling. lin Fig. 5, 1l, 1l are individual containers, and 1S is the wrapping foil.

rl`he aluminium toil is unacted on by the tea or by the lemon juice or sugar which may be used in the tea.

'l`he method of using these containers is as follows: A thermos pitcher, with a lid which may be tilted back by the thumb or finger, (not shown or claimed here because shown and claimed in another application) is brought to the table, containing hot water. The tea money is contained in a bowl, in the same manner as the lumps of sugar; (though the sugar itself, and milk powder may be placed in other similar containers it' desired). The tea is served by filling a cup with the hot Water, and placing a piece of the tea money in the saucer, beside thecup. The guest puts the tea money in his tea, and leaves it for a few moments, stirring if desired, till the tea has the right strength, and then lifts it out again and places it on his saucer. )Vlien he passes his cup back for a fresh cup. the hostess places the used container in a bowl provided for the purpose, and sends back a fresh cup of hot water and another container.

Applicant has discovered that tea isthe onlybeverage which is palatable with alkaline water. As alkaline salts are very valuable medicinally, in acidosis, rheuma- 4tism, etc.; such alkaline salts, e. g. carbonate of soda, phosphate of soda, Glaubers salts, ete., may be mixed with the tea leaves in the container, and infused with the tea. In this case, if desired, the'container maybe made 'such perforations 'interchange between the inside and outside,

of copper foil; though if kept dry, until the time of infusion aluminium foil is entirely satisfactory.

As shown at. 18', Fig'. l, the peii'orations may be arranged in the form of letters.

By the statement that one dimension of the infusor is made small compared with its large dimension is meant that it is made of substantially a ditl'erent order of magnitude to that of the large dimension. For example, in Figures l and 2 the ratio shown is l to 8. That this is not a mere change of size involving a corresponding change of an old and well known effect, but on the contrary a change resulting in an entirely new technical effect Will be seen by considering the mathematical theory ot' diffusion as given in Thomson and Poyntings Physics and in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, section Ditl'usion. From the laws there given it will be seen that it' two tea-spoon-i'ulls of tea be placed in two intusors, both having the same number of perforations in top and betteln, but one twice as thick as the other, the material in the thin ditl'usor will be extracted in one eighth the time necessary for the thick infusor. This is in itself a great advantage, as economizing the tea, but also an entirely new and important technical effect is produced, for the-outside layers of tea in the thick infusor being exposed to the liquid eight times longer than is necessary, for the extraction of the theine and flavouring matters, give4 up their tannin and other bitter principles, thus spoiling the flavour' and taste. The thin infusor avoids this injurious superext 'action and eliminates the aci-id taste of the tannin. It is perhaps not too much to say that no one can obtain the true exquisite flavour of tea unless by the use of the container herein described, or by extracting it as is done by the tea tasters, i. e. spreading a thin layer loosely on the bottom ot' the cup; which latter method is objectionable for general use, and inconvenient.

By the statement that the infusors are made of substantially impervious material, with perforations, is meant that the ditl'usion Adoes not take place through the substance of the material, as with filter paper and cloth. )Vliere the diffusion takes place througl'i the body of the material the crystalloid theine come through easily, as also the crystalloid tannin; but some of the advantageous materials and lavouring extractives are of large lmolecular weight and come through quite slowly. The perforations should be so large as possible without letting the tea sift out. This gives the maximum rate of diffusion, Ias'may be seen from the papers on stomata by Jeffreys and Larmor in the Philosophical Magazine for April and May, 1918; where itis shown that allow substantially free which is not they case where the diffusion takes place through the body of the material. v

'By conjointly ,sealable, by stacking and wrapping is meant lthat the infusors :are substantially fiat on top and bottom to that extent that they may be 'stackedreadily upon one' another; and that they are substantially free from .projections on the,side's, to the extent that they may be readily wrapped,

when assembled in a'stack, by metallic foil and the like; and that they are rigid to the extent that they have definite linear dimensions, as distin uished from `bags andthe like made of exible materials;y and that the perforations are'so4 small vthat ythe, material will not sift out appreciably 'and therefore specialelements, as individual covers,

or topA covers are not necessary to prevent the sifting-out of the .material into the s ace between the sides and top and bottom o the infusor stack and the wrapping foil.

By elastically deformable is meant formed from elastic as' distinguished from flexible material, and automatically returning to shape if not bent beyond a certain an le, but not automatically returnable if bent evondv that angle.

v By completely closed sides is ineant that the sides of the infusors are without rforations, and are either integral, or if t ey have joints, are sealed over t e wholel joint, as distin ished from infusors with sewed sides or astened by intermittent lugs. The

complete closure prevents drainage from the infusorintothesaucer when, after infusion, the infusor is placed, partly on edge, in the saucer. i

By elastically sealed is meant sealed by elastically deformin'gj the material at the edges of the joint.

By having its large dimension smaller that the largest dimensionfof the inside of the' cup `,is v meant an infusor having its largest dimension such thaty when dropped in the cup its large dimension will not pro' jee-ting it will .be liable to befstruck by the hand moving over the cup and so cause the cup to spilll 'or break. It is thus, distinguished from infusors of the well known sary 'and -objectio1 1able. What I claim is jectabove the edge of the cup, as if so pro- Y type in vwhich handles or supports extend A above .the edges of the cup, which applicants `type of construction renders unneoesl 1. A comparatively vthin elastically deformable infusor, having one of its dmen# sionsin the ratio of approximately one to ten, or less, toits ygreatest dimension, vso

constructed as to give a rate of'infusiony closely approximating that of the uncon'-` fined infusive material.,

2. Anv infusor of elastic material of such properties and construction as to be permanently deformed by use, through the expansion' of the infusive materialen immer sion in the infusion l iq,uid.l

3. A comparatively thin elastically deformable infusor, havingpne of its dimensions in the ratio of approximately one to ten, 'or less, of its greatest dimension, and

perforated on all sides perpendicula'rly to its said greatest dimension, so'constructed as to give a rate of infusion closely approximating that of the unconined infusive material.

disc or a com.

REGINALD A. FESSENDEN. 

